


It's Safe

by 1Zukoneedsafamily2



Series: 2020 Birthdays! [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Zuko (Avatar)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:13:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24345556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1Zukoneedsafamily2/pseuds/1Zukoneedsafamily2
Summary: Happy early birthday Penguin! Betad by Flameo Hotman and Scar and BoomerangZuko drops trauma nuggets everywhere.
Series: 2020 Birthdays! [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1822996
Comments: 24
Kudos: 526





	It's Safe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [00AwkwardPenguin00](https://archiveofourown.org/users/00AwkwardPenguin00/gifts).



Zuko was sitting with his legs dangling over the edge and leaned forward. The rush of seeing the drop into the trees down below was thrilling. He kept edging off until he was just barely sitting on the ledge and only was touching the ledge with his hands. 

Suddenly someone yanked him back onto the ledge by his collar, he fell back blinking up at Sokka. 

"What?" Zuko blinked his eyes both wider than normal. 

"You idiot! You could have fallen off the edge!" Sokka scowled down at Zuko.

"I wouldn't have fallen!" Zuko pouted. "I have far better balance than I used to!"

"What, you did this in the Fire nation?!"

"Yeah. With Azula. I used to fall a lot more when I was around her because she used to push me off." Zuko had an indifferent expression and tone.

"Why would your dad not stop her?! " Sokka was horrified and his voice pitched high in surprise. 

Zuko snorted dryly and sat on the edge once more, his tone completely flat. "Well, she always had his approval."

He didn't try to go back to the very edge again. At least not in front of Sokka, who sighed exasperatedly and tried to drag him away from the ledge one last time.

* * *

Zuko was worried that Katara would never warm up to him at this rate, so he had gone off to look for Toph. When he had found her, he had come up from behind her and started to ask, "Toph-"

"Holy Badger mole!" Toph turned around and had instinctively gotten into an earth bending stance. "You need a bell. I didn't even feel your footsteps!"

Zuko looked sheepish. "Sorry; I spent a lot of time as a kid practicing it so now it's just a habit. It’s worse when it’s dark out and I’m actually trying."

"Why would you have to practice it?" Toph asked, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Well, my fath- Ozai was never someone you wanted to cross in a bad mood. He always seemed to be in one." He shrugged it off and returning to his original task asked, "Anyway. Can you help me figure out how to make Katara not dislike me so much?"

* * *

He was taking Toph's advice and was going to help Katara out by cooking. He had the fire started and was putting in some of the meat in the pot. Then he sat back to watch the water start boiling. Katara came up behind him, frowning as she asked "What are you doing?"

"I-Uh. I'm helping?" He grimaced and stood up. 

"How do you even know how to cook?" Her frown deepened, as she raised an eyebrow in response. 

"Well, when I was younger I used to have to practice something until it was perfect. And it usually took a while cause I was never perfect. So I missed a lot of dinners and lunches. I made myself dinner a lot. Really late at night though so my fa- Ozai didn't know." Zuko stared off into the distance looking somber.

Katara was flabbergasted. She quickly checked her expression. "Interesting... So what are you making?"

* * *

Zuko was sharpening his swords and Suki was watching him from a nearby rock. "Why did you learn to use swords?" 

He stiffened and looked over at her.  Then he huffed softly before putting down his  swords and answered. "Well, for about a year after my sister learned to fire bend and I still could barely get the flame moving, Ozai told me to go find a way to defend myself and come back when I had mastered it or could fire bend. He told me it didn't matter which I did because I would still be more useless than Azula. "

"How old were you?" Suki was trying to keep casual but the way her hands clenched and her jaw tightened  betrayed her and let her true feelings shine through.

"Hmmmm... I think I was six. Azula was four. I also wasn't allowed the protection of the Imperial Fire Benders anymore. Which didn't really bother me because it allowed me to go out more freely and talk to some of the citizens." Zuko was relaxed when he looked at Suki. 

"So which happened first?" Suki tilted her head slightly as she asked. 

"They happened simultaneously. The better I got at swords, the more fire bending I could do. So I mastered the dao swords and could do the fire bending basics relatively well by the time I came back to the palace."

"Interesting... " She frowned softly before shaking it off. "Wanna spar?"

Zuko grinned and said confidently "Do you even have to ask? Swords and fans or hand to hand?"

* * *

Zuko sighed and growled softly. Aang was getting on his nerves. Aang kept complaining about how hard Zuko was on him. "Aang, I may work you hard, but I don't even come close to how intense my teachers were."

Aang paused and blinked. "What do you mean?"

Zuko didn't turn to look at Aang. "My teachers used to burn and hit me when I wasn't positioned right. They also liked to keep me at it for hours with no rest."

Aang frowned, his eyebrows furrowing in worry, "Why didn't your dad stop them?"

"Because he knew it would make me a better fire bender." Zuko turned to look at Aang. His eyes were big and watery and his lower lip trembled, as he often did when he was about to start crying. 

Zuko panicked because he wasn’t good at comforting people and certainly didn't know how to deal with crying. He looks at Aang and then the nearest exit.

He moved toward Aang and gently patted his shoulder. "Please don't cry. It really wasn't that bad."

Aang sniffled and gave Zuko a hug who just patted his back awkwardly

* * *

Zuko was sitting near the fire, making sure it stayed consistent so he didn’t burn the food. He pulled it off and started to make servings. 

Katara had come up from behind Zuko and laid her hand on his shoulder. "Zuko. Are you aware that your childhood wasn't good?"

"I mean I know it wasn't ideal, but like most of it was fine." Zuko shifted to get a better look at the group. 

Sokka spoke up first. "Zuko. Dads don't give permission to little sisters to push their brothers off buildings."

"No one learns to sneak around because their dad is always angry," Toph added.

Katara squeezed his shoulder to get his attention on her. "No one has to learn to cook because their dad tells them they can't eat dinner if their bending forms aren't perfect."

Suki sighed softly. "No one masters a weapon because their dad thinks they are useless and take away their only protection."

Aang stepped forward and touched his opposite shoulder. "Abuse hasn’t been allowed for hundreds of years, but even then no one should be getting abused by their teachers because their dad said that it was okay."

Zuko's breath stuttered.  The fire wavered and grew suddenly. He couldn't keep his control over the fire. There were hands on him. Pulling him away from it.

Zuko was floating away. He struggled to process what was being said. The muddled words couldn't penetrate the pressing walls of thought that surrounded him. And then a hand was pressing him back and into the chest he now found himself leaning against.

As his breath is evening out and his vision clearing of the fuzzy hazed that had moved in, the words started becoming clear. His chin was pressed into his collarbone.

“Zuko, it’ll be okay. We’ve got you. You are safe here.” He couldn’t tell who said it but as he looked up, he looked around and saw each of their faces. Worried— they are all worried. About  _ him _ . 

These are his  _ friends _ . They will not attack him for being vulnerable. 

It’s  _ safe _ .


End file.
